Some Friday morning links on Opening Day eve

Univ. of Ala.Places like this are where I'll be spending my Saturdays this fall.

Maybe this will help you pass the final hours before kickoff......

In today's Huntsville Times, we had a story on Jimmy Brumbaugh -- a former All-SEC defensive tackle at Auburn who was one of my favorite players back in a previous life covering the Tigers who is now an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech.

And there was also this story on Beamerball, including some illuminating comments from Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe on the pressure Virginia Tech puts on opponents on special teams. (And a little behind-the-scenes insight......your genius typist lost two interviews for this story because of technical difficulties).

Times columnists Mark McCarter and Bill Bryant also made visits this week to the campuses at Auburn and Alabama, respectively.

And before we go, a plug for our weekend coverage plans in The Times. As usual, you get can all the beat details from Evan Woodbery in Auburn and Gentry Estes at Alabama. In Saturday's paper, I'll have my SEC capsules with predictions on every game (we may even get the predictions posted here later today).

Then Sunday, we'll have a smorgasbord of coverage from both Alabama and Auburn. Bill Bryant and I will be typing from the Georgia Dome while Mark McCarter will be at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

So check us out. And altogether now, a little fist pump that football season is here.

P.S. So I was looking for a picture to go with this blog post and came upon this. An auction just ended where fans could actually bid for two seats in the Bryant-Denny Stadium press box for the Florida International game on Sept. 12.